A rare shot for school choice in Illinois

For too long, low-income children in Illinois have been prisoners of their ZIP codes. Their educational opportunities are determined by arbitrary lines on a map that pen families inside a school district's boundaries.

Lawmakers who are wrestling over a new school funding formula this week should embrace a compromise that would rescue those children. They can advance a proposal creating scholarships for low- and middle-income kids to attend school outside their district boundaries.

The current funding formula relies too heavily on local property wealth to fund schools, but the General Assembly's attempt to correct that was rewritten by Gov. Bruce Rauner. Lawmakers are returning to Springfield to try to override Rauner's amendatory veto or to pass a compromise bill with veto-proof majorities.

One element of a proposed compromise that could attract the votes of reluctant Republican lawmakers is the scholarship program. It would encourage individuals and corporations to donate money toward a state-supported fund to help low- and middle-income families move their children to a participating private or public school.

The proposal is very much in the mix. Predictably, it is under attack by teachers unions that militantly guard their own interests, not the interests of families searching for an alternative to their public school system.

The scholarship fund would be allowed to collect a maximum of $100 million annually. Donors would receive a dollar-for-dollar income tax break from the state, a generous incentive but one that is necessary to meet the needs of families tapping into the program. It's also in line with what several other states offer.

There's great demand for such a program in Illinois. Nonprofit organizations and religious groups that offer tuition scholarships can't meet the needs of all the low-income families looking for an alternative to low-performing public schools.

This program is not a lifeboat for Catholic schools. Or nondenominational schools. Or private schools. It is a lifeboat for kids who don't fit into their public school system. It is a lifeboat for families trapped in chronically underperforming schools.

Parents with means already have school choice. They can afford private school. They can move to a high-performing district. They have the capability of providing the best opportunities for their kids. Now it's time to offer that same opportunity to poor families, just as it's time to rewrite the school funding formula.

Lawmakers, do both.

Seventeen states offer tax-credit scholarship programs. Courts routinely have upheld these programs. Illinois already provides preschool subsidies that parents can use at private day care centers and MAP grants that low-income students can use at private colleges.

Even at capacity, program supporters say it would serve less than 1 percent of Illinois' public school population. There will be no mass exodus from public schools. That's a red herring.

There also will be no dramatic impact on state finances, and the program could, in fact, save money. A kid leaving the public system is a kid the state no longer supports on a per-pupil basis.

Lawmakers, you have a rare window here. You can rewrite a school funding formula that hurts property-poor districts, and you can level the playing field for low-income families.

Don't fall for the scare tactics. Reject threats from union groups. Do what's right. Extend the same school choice many of you have to Illinois' struggling families.